MLB ALCS: Indians put Red Sox in 3-1 hole, heading into Game 5. I did enjoy, however, the back-to-back-to-back home runs by Boston. Though not as much as the Indians' 7-run 5th. (Am I wrong to sense that Boston fans are kind of like, "Eh, we'll take it or leave it this year… how about those Patriots! And KG!" Indians fans, meanwhile, seem generally ecstatic, which probably comes from not winning a World Series in multiple generations.)

MLB NLCS: Least-watched LCS series in history! (That's a shame, given the unprecedented way the Rockies have been playing for the last month.) I know most of you find talk about TV ratings to be pretty lame. I have stopped really being blown away by "lowest ever" ratings like we saw in the most recent NBA Finals (or this upcoming World Series). We get it: Fans' attention span is fragmenting… We need to set our expectations bar lower… we… WHAAAA?!

NFL: Pats-Cowboys rout was the most-watched TV show of the fall season so far -- and CBS' highest-rated game since they got the NFL back in 1998. OK, so "highest ever" ratings numbers, in this day and age, is pretty freaking remarkable. (h/t Sports Media Watch via Fanhouse)

Kevin Everett standing, with a walker: Best news of the NFL season.

NFL Trading Deadline: Chris Chambers sent from Dolphins to Chargers. At this point, this is a win for both teams: The Chargers could use the WR (Chambers could use a situation where he is the 3rd option, at best). The Dolphins could use the extra draft pick.

NFL Draft first round going from 15 minutes per pick to 10 minutes per pick? This is a fantastic development, even more so if it means that the draft's first round is moving from Saturday afternoon to Friday night. (h/t PFT)

Some traditionalists may lament either or both switches, but with the way the NFL Draft has become one of the landmark sports events of the year (arguably behind only the Super Bowl and, perhaps, the college football national championship game – oh, and apparently a Pats-Cowboys regular season game) and this makes it even more accessible and even more of an "event."

NBA: Kobe to be traded to the Mavs? Who else is getting tired of the 24/7 Kobe Trade rumors? Wake me when he's in his Bulls jersey.

NBA Preaseason: I think Al Jefferson is going to be a superstar. The centerpiece of what the T'wolves got in return for KG had 20 and 15 last night, yet another great preseason performance in a lead role… I'm a Wizards fan, but you don't have to be bullish on the team to see that they are totally overlooked in the East, a conference they were poised to finish first in last season before injuries decimated their chances. Keep an eye on the Wiz rookies (Pecherov, Young, McGuire), who have helped turn the Wizards' second-unit into a strength, rather than a liability. (Yes, the Wiz were routed by the Bulls last night.)

Golf/Business: Gatorade to partner with Tiger Woods and launch a new line of drinks, "Gatorade Tiger." I love Gatorade (Best. Hangover Cure. Ever.), and I pride myself in being enough of a mindless lemming to know I'll definitely try the stuff. Otherwise, Tiger is rumored to be getting $100 million in the licensing deal.

Fantasy: MLB and the players' union lost another ruling to the fantasy folks about owning player names and stats. Presumably, under the ruling, I could create my own fantasy game without having to pay a licensing fee. If only I wasn't so lazy...

CFB: Tom Osborne is returning to Nebraska as interim AD. Sure, he was in charge of the football team during its heyday (and, arguably, the greatest single season any team has ever had, in 1995), but there was some serious sketchiness that went along with that success that people either never heard about (or just don't talk about).

CFB: Jimmy Clausen is benched. So much for being the greatest QB prospect since whenever. (Wait: Why am I talking about Notre Dame? What a waste of time.)

CBB: Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins officially anointed as Jim Boeheim's successor. That's the type of continuity that can really help a program. In some teams' cases, I like the idea of bringing in a new regime; in the case of Syracuse, they are better off with an extension of Boeheim (whenver the transition happens).

More CFB: Don't forget to check out my guest-blog over at CoachOfTheYear.com, this week to be updated with praise for Kentucky's Rich Brooks, a look at the latest standings and another round of reader comments – they sure do like that Jim Leavitt. Feel free to leave your own comments, analyzing the latest developments in the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award race. Special consideration for DS.com commenters, of course. (As should be plainly obvious, but I'm happy to affirm: I have a business relationship with the folks behind CoachOfTheYear.com.)

114 comments:

I think a lot of the problem with the low ratings of the LCS and last year's NBA playoffs stems from the lack of exposure to these teams during the year. I mean why would anyone care about the Rockies when all you see on ESPN and Fox is the Cubs, Cards, Yankees and Red Sox.

If ESPN devoted as much attention to the Rockies I would bet there would be a lot more people watching.

CFB: Jimmy Clausen is benched. So much for being the greatest QB prospect since whenever. (Wait: Why am I talking about Notre Dame? What a waste of time.)

THEN DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM!!!!! I could go into all the reasons why you and everyone else are wrong about him and this team but that's not the point. They're awful this year and shouldn't be talked about, but people like you talk about them anyway and then complain about talking about them.. Doesn't make sense.. (end rant)

Being a Yankees fan in Boston, I'm just giddy over the ALCS.. Go Tribe.

Shanoff said: Am I wrong to sense that Boston fans are kind of like, "Eh, we'll take it or leave it this year… how about those Patriots! And KG!"

Yeah you are wrong to sense that. I am not a Boston fan, but the real fans of that city and area do not feel that way at all. Does not matter how successful the other teams you follow are, or could be. it sucks when the team you are currently watching is struggling. A real fan is not content in any way whatsoever unless his team wins. But hey, when you are "ahem" a bandwagon rider, I can understand that approach to it. come on Sox fans, don't let that one slide!

The ratings thing could be directly related to the times of the games, for the east coasters, those games started at 10pm which makes it hard for a lot of people to stay up, especially if they have no vested interested in either team. Same thing happened with the fantastic Mavs/Warriors series.

you pitch dice k in game 7, assuming beckett wins tomorrow, you cannot go into game 6 with one of the greatest post season pitchers not in the game. you gotta get to game 7. dice k is just on a short leash if it gets the far, all hands on deck.

re sox: trust me, I'm not meh about this...i haven't slept well now for 5 straight days because of the sox and pats games all in a row (and the fact that I'm drinking for each and every one of them.) Last night went from a great game to "what the fuck just happened?" really quick...i mean wake was pitching so well, then it just all came unraveled.

I still like the prospect of a game 7 happening here with beckett and schilling in the next 2...dicek in the 7th game though worries me. I just am hoping that someone other than youk/papi/manny show some kind of emotion to gut out a win.

ALL credit to Indians veteran pitchers...those guys are throwing strikes and deserve all the credit in the world. The sox didn't lose these last two, the Indians won them.

I agree w/Matt_T and bkelly126, the ratings probably have a lot more to do w/the start times of the games. I was rooting like hell for the Rockies & I still watched very little because I went to bed. Also, w/TBS being a cable channel as opposed to Fox which isn't, in theory would also reduce the possible audience since (I know this is shocking) not everyone has cable/satellite tv.

Actually time and the teams involved have a lot to do with the ratings. My guess is that the Indians-Rockies World Series will be on of the lowest rated ever.

As a Red Sox fan I am unhappy that my team is going to lose but I can look on the bright side of things at least I have a Patriots, Celtics and Maybe Bruins Playoff runs to look forward to. And while that makes me feel a little better it does not totally ease the pain of the Sox losing.

No one should talk about ND since they are irrelevant to this CFB Season and probably several more to come. I think ND will finally realize that being an Independent even with a good coach is hurting them and it is time to enter a conference and get an easier schedule

I went to school at Nebraska during that tremendous run and I am willing to talk about the "sketchiness" as long as Dan will discuss any issues that arise out of Gainesville. Osborne may have not been hard enough on Phillips and probably should have suspended him the rest of the year. There were other players that got into legal scrapes during that '95 season. 48 hours did a piece on Nebraska football and its troubles during the '95 season.

Dan please tell us if you have any more information because we all know that you are so informed when it comes to sports and do not make statements without backing them up.

I will say one thing Terry Francoma showed is fatal flaw again last night and that is sticking with your starter too long. If you watched the game you could tell that Wakefield was tiring in the 4th Inning and that as soon as he gave up the HR to lead off the 5th he should of been yanked. At worse when the 2 batters got on he should been lifted, Instead Francoma waits until the Indians have scored 4 runs and put 2 more runners on base.

I think being an independent only hurts ND because the only championship they play for is the national championship. And let's be honest winning that is very hard to do because you compete against the 100-something other teams. But teams in a conference at least get to play for a conference championship against 11 other teams at most.

" CMFost said...It is all over, the Red Sox will not even get this series back to Boston."

This does a good job summing up what I hate about Red Sox fans, and I am one. (born in raised around Boston until I left for college)

Francona didn't leave Wakefield in too long. Had Wakefield caught that liner back to him, he probably doubles Sizemore off first and they're out of the inning down one. If Wakefield doesn't touch it, they turn the double play and they're out of the inning down only 1 (or was it 2?). It was just a bad break and it opened the floodgates, that's how baseball works.

The mistake made by the Red Sox was leaving Gagne on the roster and leaving Tavares off. They have no long relief pitchers except maybe Lester, but he's used to be a starter and needs the longer warm-up time. Hurts even more when you're starters can't get through 5 innings. So you can argue Francona is leaving his starters in too long, but he has no long relief arms to put in.

jim, I am just stating that the way things are going it does not look like the Red Sox have a chance. Of course we said that in 2004 but this is a different team.

As for Francoma, he did leave Wakefield in too long. Start watching his pitches near the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th. He started to leave the knuckleball up which is a sign of him getting tired and he should been lifted after the Blake home run.

I can barely stay awake for the finish of the NLCS games, which start at 8:00. To start games at 10:00 east coast time is ridiculous. Nobody wants to listen to Dane Cook or Frank Caliendo at that hour. Now if they had Alyssa Milano modeling her baseball wear for chicks fashion line....

11:22: Oh, boy. Fox just showed a startling "This day in history" graphic. In 2003, the Boone homer happened. In 2004, the Sox lost Game 3 to the Yanks by a score of 19-8. And in 2007 ... this mess of a Game 4. I'm suddenly not a big fan of Oct. 16.

Silver lining in the pending Sox collapse: Pink hats will jump off the bandwagon.

If the Indians finish us off, good for them. Their fans are just as rabid as the sox fans. I find a strange sense of understanding every time they show the drummer in the center field bleachers. Yes, the same guy that was in the movie Major League. He's probably been to every Indians game in the past 30 years. Does anyone have a link to an article about that guy?

Also, a freakin movie was made about how historically bad this team had been. 20 years ago. Good for them.

Don't forget that you could argue that the Sox are favored to win every game for the rest of the series.

Beckett/Sabathia in Cleveland? Based on how they've both pitched you've got to say that the Sox have the edge there.

Schilling/Carmona in Boston? Carmona hasn't pitched well so far and history tells us that when you tell Schill in game 6 that he needs to win, he comes up with a way.

Matsakester/Westbrook in Boston? Sure Dice-K gets the start but Wake will be ready as will Lester and that mixture can easily find 7 innings combined. Westbrook was good in game 3 but you have to go with the home team in game 7.

This isn't saying that they are likely to win all three together. It's like rolling a pair of dice. You are more likely to roll a 7 each time than any other number. But what are the chances of rolling a 7 three times in a row? Not good.

If the Sox can actually take it game by game they could pull this out.

Guy I hope you are right but I just do not see it happening this time. And the main reason is I do not think Francoma is going to make the moves he has too to get this team going. He needs to bench Crisp and Drew(Keilty will play in his place Thursday) and put Ellsbury as lead off, drop Pedroia to the 2nd spot and move YOuk to the 6th spot

"I think ND will finally realize that being an Independent even with a good coach is hurting them and it is time to enter a conference and get an easier schedule"

But wait....I thought last year, ND played an easy schedule. And the year before that. Which one is it haters: the schedule is too hard or too easy year in and year out? Statements like that are why I get so mad when people bring up the schedule. In a conference this year, ND could have rebuilt and still won 6 games playing 'softer' teams first; now they'll win 3. BFD. In the price of rebuilding is not playing in the Alamo Carcare Hoover State Houston Bowl, fine by me.

I do not have a pink hat, the Pink hats are the one who say we did it in 04 we can do it again. The real Red Sox fans are realistic and know that what happen in 2004 is a one time thing and that it will probably never happen again. And as a fan of baseball you have to admit the Red Sox are not the better team in this Series in the Indians are.

It doesn't matter when they air the NFL draft, it's boring because we don't see anything happen. If they want to get the fans interested, make it like the NHL draft-- rotate around to different league cities from year to year, and put all the staff in the building! During the NHL draft, all the GMs, scouts, etc, are there on the floor and you see them running around talking trade offers.

In the NFL draft, we get hour after hour of Mel Kiper and the teams phone in their picks. Boring!

first of all, it is 3-1, not 3-0, and you have homefield advantage. several teams in sports history have comeback from a 3-1 deficit. I do think the Red Sox are the better team overall than the Indians. However the Indians are completely outplaying the Red Sox right now. I believe before any playoffs series were starting, the Boston fans were giving the stats of the Sox being the best defensive team, having great starting pitching, and a great backend of the rotation. Geez Cmfost, don't start that rationalization in your head and start being areal freaking fan who believes that his team can overcome the odds and win. everyone gets pissed at us Yankee fans because we think we will always win, but the rest of you sound like sissies because you do not put the faith in your teams. So what if we have been wrong the last 7 years, but does not keep us from giving up. btw, Go Tribe!

I was at the game last night. What an atmosphere! This town believes in this team.

Re: low ratings for Rox/Tribe series-maybe if the national media (Sportscenter especially) didn't spend all of their time on the Yankees/Torre/A-Rod and put more time into telling the great stories about the Tribe and Rox, more people would watch.

Re: Manny-the Tribe won't bean him, at least not in this series. Maybe next year.

John Adams is the Tribe's drummer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_(drummer)

Re: Brian-Shut up! That would be the cruelest of the cruel. The ultimate stomach punch.

Just to answer your question guyinthecorner, Chances of rolling a 7, 1/6 = 16.66%. chances of rolling 3 consecutive 7's is 0.46% or about a 1/200 chance. Then again, what was the chance the Red Sox would have come back from 3-0 and losing game 4 in the 8th inning? The thing is that I think the Indians are a better team based upon their bullpen right now. The only real ace Boston has is Beckett although CC and Carmona have been a bit shaky as well.

Tiger and Gatorade. I understand that Tiger is the biggest name in sports in the US right now even if I could care less about golf personally. However all Gatorade is going to do for a golfer is get him fat and increase his blood pressure. It is not a health drink. It a sports drink meant to replenish the calories and electrolytes you lose when you engage in a vigorous sport. If you are not jogging, swimming, cycling, playing soccer, football, basketball, etc. for an extended period of time, there is no reason to drink a sports drink.

I don't know on what basis Dan declares the NFL draft to be such an event. I like sports. I do not watch award shows and the draft is more like an award show. I like to read in the paper the next day to see who my teams picked up and where college players I followed went. That is it.

As for the Heisman, I am content to watch the ticker on the bottom of the screen to find out who won. Life is too short to sit and watch that nonsense.

And if you think today is bad, my son has to take the PSATs today. Poor kid.

Marco, I grew up in boston and have been going to games at Fenway park since I was 5 years old. I am a born and bread true Red Sox fan and I am trying to be realistic about the Red Sox chances. So take your pink hat crap somewhere else. I will not call WEEI again since only pinks hats call WEEI now, hell only the Pink Hats listen to WEEI since they enjoy listening to there team getting ball washed 24 hours a day. Instead I listen to Felger on ESPN 890 where real fans hang out and listen to objective criticism of the team.

And let me get this straight to you this is not the first time I have been critical of Francona and how he handle the pitching staff. Him being loyal is great but at some point you need to have the balls to make a change.

cmfost, i see no problem of you being critical of francona's moves, or non moves. but it is the lack of faith you have is astounding. I think the 2004 Sox can give faith to all sports fans that deficits can be overcome. but whatever. you like being the pessimist so you don't have to deal with disappointment

I guess accomodating the folks in those teams' time zone shouldn't be considered.

I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that's what's driving down the TV ratings. I live on the east coast, but I want to watch the Rockies since 17 of their players were on my hometown minor league affilicate just a few years ago. But, there's no way I can stay up until 1 or 2 AM when I have to get a family out the door and be at work by 8:00.

What happened to the old days when one league played an afternoon game and the other one started at 7:00?

The NFL draft is hands down the most overrated, boring, uneventful, tiring event in sorts. It's not like a game where it's something you wanna witness live. I'm content reading the results in the paper the next day seeing as it's the bggest waste of 18 hours.

I've always said I'd watch if they lowered the time between picks...to 5 minutes. It just takes so long that I'm usually watching what's on Lifetime by the second pick.

I too was at the Tribe game last night (and all the others in town, and I'll be there Thursday too), and yeah, that place was ELECTRIC. Looking out at all the towels in unison, that was magical. I hope we don't end up with a bunch of "pink hats" ourselves, because God knows they were down here the last time the Tribe made the WS.

I do think CC will throw up and in at Manny tonight if there is no one on. I don't think he'll hit him, but I think he'll send the message that solo homers to get your team within 4 runs do NOT need to be hotdogged like that. Then again, he stood and admired his 200 foot pop up in the 8th against Betancourt too! ;-)

I honestly (all fandom aside) don't see how so many of you think the Sox are THAT much better than the Indians though. Um, didn't they finish with the EXACT same records? If anything, these teams are really even, but thus far, the Indians B-level players have totally outdone the Sox B-level players. Papi, Manny -- they're beating hell outta us. But that's all, and you can't win with just two guys producing against a team that's as good as you are.

marco said ... No you're not. You gave up already. Might as well not even turn on the TV thursday night. Save yourself some anguish.

Actually I am being realistic since I have watched the games and have seen that the Red Sox are getting complete out played. In 2004 other then Game 3 the Red Sox were not getting out played like this.

Look I would love to see the Red Sox comeback and win. It would be an great thing to see but from what i have seen in this series I do not think it can happen.

I have total faith in C.C. that he will not pitch like shit tomorrow night. It's going to be a close one!

I was at the Browns' Stadium last night (the Jake is maybe a mile or so down the street-I'm not too good with distance measurements!) and my mom and I could hear the crowd. It was great.

I wish they would plunk Manny tomorrow, but it would be smart not to do it. I will gladly come in and plunk him for them. What a power tool. On sports talk this morning, someone said that they don't think he knows who he plays for; he just gets a ride to the stadium, puts on his uniform and crushes the ball. I thought that was a pretty good analogy of him. He is dumber than dirt, but he sure can read pitches and crush a baseball.And how come he is Johnny Hustle in the outfield NOW!? He never put effort like that into fielding while he was here.

but seeing that this is year of the bridesmaid for the state of Ohio, is there any doubt that the Rockies will win? or has it all been leading up to an Indians victory? I'd think a championship for tOSU would move the needle more

What are you guys talking about with Carmona? He's been shaky all post season? What!? I'm pretty sure he had a hell of a game against the Yankees. And he's only pitched two games. So one good, one bad. Certainly not worse than Schilling.

This is the only John Adams story I could find that was recent, but I'll keep digging around and see if I can find a more comprehensive story... sorry I tried to do a link, but the blog program won't post it, so you have to cut and paste.

Jen -- what were you doing at Browns Stadium last night?!? I saw the lights on and wondered why...

Also, did you (or anyone else in C-Town) notice that the BP Building downtown has been lighting their windows to form the Indians script "I" for the games? It's really cool to see downtown come up big like that... Have they showed that on Fox? (I haven't see any of the games on TV!)

Round 6- Simmons does a running diary of the Sox/Indians game 4 and lays down these quotes to mock Cook:"8:48: Hey, it's our buddy Dane Cook! The Cleveland Browns! The Boston White Sox! Manny Gonzalez! Tom Sizemore! Dustin Pedrino! There's only one postseason! There's only one October!""9:07: Wait, how many Octobers are there? And while I have you here, how many postseasons are there?""9:40: Pedroia grounds out to end the top of the fifth. I love the guy, but should Sox fans be a little concerned that he grew up on the West Coast and openly admits he has trouble hitting in cold weather ... you know, considering the baseball playoffs occur in October and all? I say yes. By the way, there's only one October.""10:54: In case you were wondering, we've seen multiple ads for Cialis, Levitra and Lipitor, as well as four Dane Cook commercials and five Chevy ads with "Our Country" blaring. Fun night all around."

At this point Sports Guy is just accumulating personal fouls for late hits on Dane Cook after the SNL KO of earlier this week.

the fact that at one of the patriots super bowl parades fans began chanting "YANKEES SUCK!" shows how far behind the Celts, Bruins, and even the Pats (arguably the best team ever) are behind the beloved SAWX.

As a Tigers fan I'm pulling for the Indians...and all of you people looking forward to a game 7 in Boston need to realize that even though you have Beckett and Schilling, you still have to go through CC and Fausto, arguably the best 1-2 punch in the majors. Go Tribe.

Todd~ Twice a year, the Browns do a "behind the scenes" event, in October it's at the Stadium and in April it's out in Berea. It is called Football 101 and was originally an "all-women" event that has turned into about a 60-40 women to men ratio. (My husband says guys go there to pick up chicks, but there were guys with their ladies.) It's fun to see what goes on during a game week, in the press box and all that, but the best part is running football drills with some guys.

Are you an Indians' season ticket holder? I didn't win the lottery to buy tickets...I always won in the 90's. damn.

No, I'm not a season ticket holder, just got lucky on the lottery and bought everything I could get my hands on! I usually get to 20 or so games a year though... I'm one of the few (!) this summer that supported the Tribe all the way by putting my ass in a seat!

That Browns event sounds cool -- my father has season tix there in the Dawg Pound, but it just isn't the same in the new place, ya know?

Actually sparty I agree with you to an extent. A traditional english breakfast of sausage, bacon, blood pudding, beans, eggs, and toast washed down with a pint of guiness is the best cure. I think the grease just soothes the stomach or something.

I don't really care for the Indians unless they are bringing out Joe Boo before a game, but they really are making the Sox look bad.

The Cowboys/Pats game was the highest rated in the entire country, except for here in the Bay Area. Where we could've watched the Game of the Week, we ended up with the Game of the Weak. Thanks to the regional coverage of the Raiders. Al Davis just seems to find ways to screw us!

Patriots games get 3x the ratings of Red Sox games even the current Red Sox playoffs games.

Ask yourself this CMFost: would you rather see the SAWX win the World Series or the Pats win the Super Bowl?

I feel like a lot of the Pats>SAWX talk is because the Pats are in control of the NFL and the SAWX are on their way out and people are starting to realize that. There's not a "Patriots Nation" is there?

I remember pedialyte from high school and wrestling. I swear I think I was on a diet of pedialyte, dip and liquor for 6 months out of the year. Pedialyte pops are better than the straight liquid but thats like saying a dog shit tastes worse than a human shit.

"but there was some serious sketchiness that went along with that success that people either never heard about (or just don't talk about)."--------your don't throw out a comment that inflammatory, and then not discuss it further.

ferocious bluebird,I actually went to your blog since I was curious what you had to say about Simmons. Didn't have time to read it all but you basically said many of the same things I have said in this comments section. I used to read him and like him.

Now I just can't get over all the 90210, Karate Kid and other references, his defense of the Pats and Red Sox and everything else. I don't know why I would want to read his running diary or anyone else's for that matter.

I am not into Australian rules football that much but do love what they call Union Rugby which is the form played currently in the World Cup (Finals on Sunday).

cycledan do you like rugby league as well? I always found it a bit more fast paced. Not as much fun as sevens but definitely not as plodding as union can be. When I lived in scotland John Rutherford (scottish fly half) was a family friend and he always compared league to professional soccer and union to national soccer in that you can buy the best talent in league to an extent.

I have never really watched a Rugby league game. It used to be that League was the pro league and Union was more elitist and amateurs.

League is a little more similar to American football in that when you get tackled or are downed, you get six chances or downs. Also the field markings are far more similar to American football then Union rugby is.

I guess with league you see less kicking and more running attacks since getting tackled does not mean releasing possession.

I played in some 7's tournaments during the summer. Games are short but holy shit is it tiring. I used to feel like my lungs and heart were about to explode at the end of the game from doing about 30 full sprints across the field during a game.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.